From the woods on the left, twenty cultivators flew out, each with a magical artifact in hand.
The leader, a dark-skinned brawny man, stood on a blazing red saber, with a centipede-like scar stretching almost to his neck, adding fierceness to his appearance.
The mana fluctuations from him clearly reached the ninth level of Qi Refinement!
Several cultivators from the Zhang family exclaimed in surprise.
Zhuo Yao, like Langqing, was a renowned loose cultivator in the Ten Thousand Mountains and the leader of the Weihu Gang. The rightful source is Novᴇl_Fire(.)net
"Zhuo Yao! How dare you attack our Zhang clan!" Zhang Qingfeng’s tone was icy and filled with anger.
"If your Clan Leader was here, I might fear you a bit, but now that your Clan Leader has been devoured by beasts, your Zhang clan is just a toothless tiger." Zhuo Yao mocked.
"Stop wasting words with him; let’s kill this old man first." Langqing sneered, performing a magic technique and manipulated his magical artifact to attack.
With reinforcements arriving, his confidence soared, determined to kill this old man.
"Kill! Make it quick!" With Zhuo Yao’s command, the cultivators behind him leaped into action, joining the battle.
He himself also manipulated a shuttle-shaped magical artifact, teaming up with Langqing to engage Zhang Qingfeng in battle.
Zhang Qingfeng’s face was serious as he cast a spell, his upper-grade magical artifact burst forth with intense spiritual light and shot out to entangle with the two’s magical artifacts.
Red, white, and yellow lights clashed fiercely, and neither side could gain the upper hand.
At this moment, Langqing’s expression turned even fiercer. Performing a magic technique, his originally reddish skin became even redder, as if blood was flowing beneath it.
The next moment, he lunged at Zhang Qingfeng with terrifying speed, almost reaching him in the blink of an eye.
Zhang Qingfeng tensed, quickly crushing a talisman, and golden light enveloped him instantly.
A fist glowing red slammed heavily against the Golden Light Shield, producing a deafening roar.
Though Zhang Qingfeng was protected by an upper-grade magical artifact, facing the swift combined assault of both opponents, he was quickly put at a disadvantage.
Meanwhile, other members of the Zhang clan were also struggling in battle.
Despite their greater battle prowess, the enemy’s numbers were overwhelming, and the Weihu Gang’s magical artifacts were of excellent quality, nearly matching their own.
For a time, they were pushed back, suffering continuous casualties.
A Wind Blade several feet long swept through a Zhang cultivator.
He could only let out a scream before his head was separated from his body, blood spurting and startling those around.
Seeing continuous casualties in the family, Zhang Qingfeng gritted his teeth in immense anger, wishing to slay them all.
But at this moment, they fell into absolute disadvantage and could not fight head-on.
"Quick, make for the top of Cangyuan Mountain!" Zhang Qingfeng shouted loudly.
Upon hearing, everyone immediately disengaged from the battlefield and made their way toward Cangyuan Mountain.
"You won’t escape so easily," the loose cultivators immediately gave chase.
Zhang Qingfeng snorted coldly, tossing a handful of talismans, interrupting their pursuit.
Once the spiritual light dissipated, the Zhang clan had already fled far away.
"Fellow Daoists, the Zhang clan has been around for hundreds of years; their wealth is unimaginable. As long as we take down Cangyuan Mountain, everything of the Zhang clan’s will be ours!"
Langqing’s voice thundered across the land.
Hearing this, the loose cultivators’ eyes glinted greedily, and they all rushed toward the top of Cangyuan Mountain.
On a distant hill, a man in green robes watched the scene from afar, muttering to himself, "With the current situation, Zhang Yu has yet to take action. It seems he really has fallen prey to beasts, and this second-stage spiritual land shall belong to my Li family."
Having said this, he mounted his Escape Light and flew toward Cangyuan Mountain.
Not long after he left, a giant Rat Demon emerged from the ground, watching him go before burrowing back into the earth.
Atop Cangyuan Mountain, a layer of spiritual light shielded the entire mountaintop, resembling an indestructible fortress.
Outside the shield, over a hundred cultivators continuously attacked the array with magical artifacts, but they couldn’t budge the shield even an inch.
"This damned tortoiseshell is too tough!"
After another round of failed attacks, Langqing grew frustrated.
Facing a second-stage array, these Qi cultivators were simply powerless.
Zhang Qingfeng’s calm voice reached everyone’s ears, "The array is connected to the Spirit Vein, absolutely unbreakable."
Upon hearing this, the Zhang cultivators relaxed a little, though their tension remained.
Outnumbered and out-equipped, they had already lost ten clan members after just a short battle.
With only about a hundred cultivators in their clan, losing ten was a devastating blow.
If they continued to fight, they might face annihilation.
As the Zhang cultivators slightly eased, a golden light blade split the sky and struck the spiritual light shield heavily.
A deafening sound spread across the top of Cangyuan Mountain, even causing the spirit-light-enshrouded buildings to tremble.
Inside the spiritual shield, Zhang cultivators were filled with terror.
Zhang Qingfeng’s gaze pierced the shield, fixating on the green-robed cultivator hovering mid-air.
Li Zhengyu, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and the Clan Leader of the Li family.
"Zhang clan, abandon the array, and I’ll spare your bloodline. Refuse, and I’ll kill you all," Li Zhengyu said coldly, wielding the golden light blade.
"Clan Leader Li, our families have been allied for generations; you..." Zhang Qingfeng began, only to be cut off by Li Zhengyu. "Spare me the nonsense. I’ll give you a hundred breaths to decide. A second-stage array without a Foundation Establishment cultivator can’t stop me."
"We choose to fight to the death, until the last moment," a fiercely loyal Zhang cultivator roared in anger.
"Dying in vain is meaningless; better to preserve the bloodline," another Zhang cultivator said fearfully.
Listening to the intense arguing between the two sides, Zhang Qingfeng opened his mouth to intervene but found himself at a loss for words.
"Oh? Is that so? You speak of destroying my Zhang clan with such boldness!" At that moment, a voice of fury echoed from afar.
People turned to see an elderly man with white hair standing in the void, his aura turbulent, eyes fixed on Li Zhengyu.
Anyone could see his fury at this moment.
"Clan... Clan Leader!!"
The Zhang cultivators were momentarily stunned, and then their hearts surged with excitement, almost jumping from their chests.
Li Zhengyu’s face darkened instantly, losing all previous composure.
’I didn’t expect this old guy to return alive!’
His mind raced, and finally, he forced a smile, "Zhang Daoist, this is a misunderstanding."
Zhang Yu’s life was nearing its end, and he wouldn’t want to clash directly.
"Misunderstanding? You instigated loose cultivators to kill my people, a misunderstanding?"
"Enough nonsense; today, I will make you pay!" ’Zhang Yu’ roared, eyes blazing, as he summoned a long saber wrapped in red light.
The fiery saber light slicing through the air, aimed straight at Li Zhengyu.